Coppélia

Frankenstein leads me back to the furthest reaches of the Athanor, the research and development area of the Foundry. He opens a door and turns on the workshop lights, revealing a slender shape with an ivory sheen. She looks like a porcelain doll with skin riveted with gold and blue interlacing. I approach the two Eidolons. Frankenstein was created with my Construct, but the same can't be said for the one he has called Coppélia. She looks at me with her enamel eyes while I walk around her, my cane clacking on the dusty floor. How does she manage to stay "alive"? As if she had anticipated my question, she opens a compartment on her chest. Inside beats an expertly crafted mechanical heart that gives off a smell of Mana. Her heart contains Kelon. That's how she can stay anchored in reality…

I turn to Frankenstein and away from the pulsing device. By using this technique, we could stabilize Eidolons in the world for longer, like the Muna manage to do. I shake my head, speechless at all the possibilities this seems to open up. But this only works because Coppélia is a mechanized creature. Other Eidolons couldn't accommodate this technology naturally. I sigh as rationality abruptly intrudes on my fascination. Coppélia closes her compartment and smiles at me, the workshop's lights glinting on her ceramic skin. Though she moves jerkily and clicks like a puppet, she has a certain grace, almost like a ballerina. In different circumstances, I might even have allowed myself a little dance with her… but my legs prevent that kind of thing.

Coppélia is a ballet dancer character from the three-act ballet of the same name by Arthur Saint-Léon, based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's short story called The Sandman. Coppélia is a mechanical doll that Franz, the main protagonist, falls in love with. To win Franz back, his fiancé Swanhilda dresses up as Coppélia and makes it appear as if the doll has come to life. In the original story, she is called Olympia, and she is brought to life through alchemy.

 Treyst

391 AC